Take part in Socktober to help Liverpool’s Whitechapel Centre

Merseyside company Gaskells Waste Services is supporting homelessness charity The Whitechapel Centre by donning some fab and funky socks to take part in the charity’s Socktober Campaign.

The Socktober campaign encourages individuals, businesses and schools to wear some funky and fabulous socks on a day in October and make a donation to the charity. The Whitechapel Centre gives out over 7,000 pairs of socks each year to those in need and it’s an item that is rarely donated in new condition. 

The Bootle-based waste management company has worked in partnership with The Whitechapel Centre for several years, supporting them financially and also helping to raise awareness of the dangers of rough sleepers taking refuge in commercial bins. Gaskells’ main truck on the Liverpool route is branded with The Whitechapel Centre’s logo and phone number and all their commercial bins have stickers warning of the dangers of sleeping in bins, along with the contact details for The Whitechapel Centre. 

Gaskells also actively fundraises for The Whitechapel Centre in some pretty weird and wacky ways! In the past they’ve hosted a pie-off, as well as a bin truck pull – so Socktober is right up their street and it allows all the staff to get involved.

Julianna Petkovic, fundraiser for The Whitechapel Centre said:

“The Whitechapel Centre is delighted that Gaskells are taking part in our Socktober campaign! The Whitechapel Centre and Gaskells have a fantastic partnership and we have been working closely together to raise awareness and fundraise for the last few years. Teams from Gaskells have consistently taken part in lots of our events, that unfortunately due to Covid-19 can’t run as normal this year. So it’s great they are on board to have a socktastic time.”

Claire Hannah from Gaskells Marketing team said:

“Homelessness is an issue which is very close to our hearts as our drivers see people sleeping on the streets every single day. We’ve been working with The Whitechapel Centre for the past few years as we’ve seen first hand the work they do for homeless people across Liverpool, which is invaluable. The whole team at Gaskells really enjoys taking part in their events, so Socktober is brilliant, because all our staff can get involved, whether it’s our drivers who are out and about, our teams in the office, or even colleagues who will be having virtual meetings too! We’re all really looking forward to it and would urge as many businesses as possible to sign up and raise money for such a worthwhile cause”.